Berlin
Masculine · “swamp”
Berlin is given to both — 1,635 boys and 1,796 girls since 1880. See Berlin as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Berlin is not named for a bear, whatever the city's coat of arms suggests. The name is Slavic, from a word for a swamp or marshy ground, which is what the settlement stood on; the bear arrived later, as a pun that the city liked well enough to keep on its shield for eight hundred years.
How old is the name Berlin?
Berlin first appears in US birth records in 1899 — 126 years ago. The typical Berlin alive today was born around 1940, making them about 85 years old. About 700 people named Berlin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Berlin most popular?
Berlin peaked in 1916, reaching #984 nationally. Today it ranks #5045, 4,061 places below that high. See the whole 1916 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From berl to Berlin
The story of Berlin
The settlements that became Berlin were founded on the marshy banks of the Spree in a region that was Slavic-speaking before German settlement, and a great many place names in that part of Germany are Slavic in origin. The city gave its name to American towns and, from the nineteenth century, to American children; it appears in the records for both sexes, given most in the years around the First World War, and it has been coming back in the last decade.
Meaningscholars disagree
swamp; marshy place
The reading most linguists accept derives the name from a West Slavic root berl, a swamp or bog, with a common place-name ending. The German word for a bear sounds similar, which produced the city's arms and a folk etymology; that connection is not supported by anything.
How the name formed
- berl
- Berlin
Related forms: Berlin
Pronouncing Berlin
bur-LIN
Two syllables with the stress at the end in American English. German says BER-leen with a fuller first syllable and a longer second vowel.
Nicknames for Berlin
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1899
- Most boys named
- 192142 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #984reached in 1916
- Change vs 2023
- −20.8%19 in 2025, from 24
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Berlin in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Berlin in German — same name
Berlins among us
people named Berlin are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 89,899 born in 2025 was named Berlin
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Sinclair test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Berlin's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Sinclair climbed just as high around 1900, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Sinclair's path sketches the road Berlin is walking now.
Berlin sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Berlin beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Berlin in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It names a real and well-known city, so the name is recognized everywhere.
- It works for a child of either sex, which some families want.
- It has an American record as a given name going back over a century.
- A city name carries whatever associations that city has, and this one has several centuries of them.
- Berlin and Burlin are close in American speech and get written for one another.
- The bear that everyone connects it with is a pun and not the origin.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Berlin to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Berlin? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Berlin
Masculine · #5045 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Berlins are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Berlin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Berlin in 2025?
- Berlin ranks #5045 among US boy names in 2025, with 19 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Berlin?
- About 1 in every 89,899 US boys born in 2025 was named Berlin — 19 in all.
- Will my child share the name Berlin with classmates?
- Berlin will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Berlin
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Silver#5045 · Daymon#5045 · Thierry#5045 · Mehmet#5045 · Tyrel#5045 · Teague#5045 · Zeyad#5045 · Gardner#5045
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Berlin? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Berlin and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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